Another victim of the lockout: youth football camps

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on June 1, 2011, 11:31 AM EDT

AP

It’s hard to find a corner of the football world that hasn’t been affected by the lockout. Youth football camps are even taking the brunt of the decision by owners and players to squabble at a time of unprecedented prosperity.

In Denver, the Mile High Football Camp won’t have player involvement for the first time because of the lockout. Run by the Pagano brothers (John is San Diego’s linebacker coach; Chuck is Baltimore’s defensive coordinator), the camp has previously included players like Peyton Manning and Jay Cutler.

The lockout doesn’t allow for coach-player interaction, though, so this year it’s all coaches.

“Due to the NFL lockout and the instability of a timeline for when work could possible begin, Randy, Josh and Luke came to the decision that it would be impossible to guarantee Josh and Luke’s participation, as well as the guest NFL players that are annually on staff,” the camp said, according to the Jacksonville Daily Progress.

The camp plans to return next year. We’ll assume the lockout is over by then.

What? Randy, Josh, and Luke McCown (are any of them even in the NFL now?) can’t participate in a passing camp because they don’t know when they’ll have to start working? Didn’t they schedule this for a time when they knew they wouldn’t have minicamps or training camps? There’s a lockout on! They aren’t doing anything! This is the perfect time to have a passing camp!

A few FACTS to keep in mind about the Owners 1) they opted out of prior CBA 2 years early 2) they took aggressive steps to prepare for a 2011 lockout 3) they asked for a massive “give back” without demonstrating financial distress 4) they implemented the lockout….these are FACTS folks

The league (read: owners) are the ones who’ve determined that coaches and players can’t have any contact, so the owners are the ones who could allow them to participate together in youth training camps. Obviously these kids are another segment of football fandom the league considers irrelevant.

Deb says:
Jun 1, 2011 12:41 PM
The league (read: owners) are the ones who’ve determined that coaches and players can’t have any contact, so the owners are the ones who could allow them to participate together in youth training camps. Obviously these kids are another segment of football fandom the league considers irrelevant.
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So what about the McCown camp? That’s just players. Why can’t players only do the camps? You can’t blame the owners for players deciding not to do their own camps.

@hobartbaker The Mile High Camp runs June 19-22, and actually costs $375 if you have a place to stay locally or $495 if you need a room. In other words about 5% of that $10,ooo number you pulled out of thin air.

smittydub says:
Jun 1, 2011 12:01 PM
A few FACTS to keep in mind about the Owners 1) they opted out of prior CBA 2 years early 2) they took aggressive steps to prepare for a 2011 lockout 3) they asked for a massive “give back” without demonstrating financial distress 4) they implemented the lockout….these are FACTS folks

————————————————–1. The players themselves have bragged about the great deal they got in the prior CBA. The opt out option was there from the beginning, so the owners took it (as I would have). 2. The owners may have prepared for a lock-out, just as the players prepared for decertification. 3. The owners offered 5 years worth of fianancial statements, and the NFLPA refussed it ( a side note, the IRS only goes back 3 years during audits and they can determine net worth. And 4. The owners implimented the lock-out only after the players walked away from the table with no counter offer to the offer that was made and decertified.